|
|
George R.R. Martin
George R.R. Martin was born in 1948 in Bayonne, New Jersey.
He attended Northwestern University, graduating with degrees in journalism.
Martin refused active service: instead he served with VISTA, in Cook
County, Illinois. In addition to his writing credits, Martin has served as
Story Editor for Twilight Zone, and as Executive Story Consultant, Producer and
Co-Supervising Producer for Beauty and the Beast, both on CBS.
He also was Executive Producer for Doorways on CBS.
At 21, he made his first pro sale to the magazine, Galaxy.
Actively involved in SFWA, Martin now lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
George R.R. Martin Website
ISFDB Bibliography
Infinivox Website
|
|
|
|
|
A review by Mark Shainblum
This is an interesting audio project which, unfortunately, starts out with several strikes against it:
-
"Under Siege," George R.R. Martin's excellent short story -- originally
published in Omni in 1985 -- has been rendered totally anachronistic
by the passage of one short decade. It's set in a post-nuclear holocaust
world, as a desperate group of American time travelers attempt to undo the
effects of the war by preventing the creation of the Soviet Union. Science
fiction isn't necessarily about prediction, and a good story should always
remain a good story, but there's no question that the collapse of the
Soviet Union will affect the reader's willing suspension of disbelief
whether he wants it to or not.
-
Infinivox clearly had no idea how to package this audiobook. The cover
art on the cassette-holder is amateurish and ugly, while the back-cover
text is graphically messy and confusing. There are so many good
underemployed science fiction artists out there that there's no excuse
for putting out something that looks this bad. (A quick trip to the
Infinivox website proves that
many -- though not all -- of their audiobooks do in fact have competent cover art).
-
The first few minutes of the audio-reading are shaky. The theme music
and imprint announcement are almost as amateurish as the packaging; and
reader Pat Bottino struggles with the material for several minutes
before slipping into a groove.
Martin is an excellent science fiction writer, and "Under Siege"
is a taut psychological drama about a man trying to decide whether he
has the right to change history. As a history buff, I also found the
historical content of this story fascinating. If it sounds like I'm
griping about trivia, it's only because I really enjoyed this
production once I got past these hurdles. By the time I flipped
the cassette onto Side Two, I was anxiously awaiting the outcome
of the story. It's not entirely clear that a potential listener
who had to pay good money for this cassette would actually have
gotten that far.
Infinivox, your heart's in the right place. All you need is a good art director!
Copyright © 1998 by Mark Shainblum
Mark Shainblum is the co-editor of Arrowdreams: An Anthology Of Alternate Canadas (Nuage Editions,
1997), the first anthology of Canadian alternate history. A veteran of the comic book field, Mark co-created
the 1980's Canadian superhero Northguard and currently writes the Canadian political parody series
Angloman, both in the form of a paperback book series and as a weekly comic strip in the
Montreal Gazette. He lives in Montreal with his computer, his slippers and a motley
collection of books.
|